religion

Proposals are invited for a session at MLA 2026 in Toronto (session sponsor, The Conference on Christianity and Literature). The contemporary political and cultural scene in the United States is fraught with religion. Religion is fraught with politics, whether thinking about the ascendancy of the forms of Christian Nationalism in the discourses and halls of power, the continued political relevance and concern of the Black Church, the rhetorical and theological interventions of leaders like Bishop Marianne Budde (ECUSA), Pope Francis, or Billy and Franklin Graham, or the difficult political and cultural engagements across national divides in the clashing of cultures influenced by versions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

Visual Theology III Beauty and Faith
Part One: Imperfect Beauty: Visions of Fractured Faith

Beauty is vanishing from our world because we live as though it did not matter.
Roger Scruton

Beauty and Faith is a two-part conference, the first of which will take place in New York City, 24-26 October 2025, and the second part in the UK, summer 2026. (Details forthcoming.)

The second Issue of Volume 7 of LLIDS examines how structures of power constitute and shape urban spaces. It proposes to explore their influence in determining social values wherein varied social groups—marked by religion, class, race, gender, etc.—negotiate the power dynamics that constitute life in urban spaces. The modern, bustling city carries within itself a continuous sense of becoming. The urban dwellers, inhabiting segregated parts of the city, shape the lived experience of these spaces through their socio-cultural interactions and relationships.

The Book of Acts contains elements of human actions and inactions that depict the beginning of a
new religious dispensation – Christianity that sought to redefine the nexus between the nascent
Christian faith, ethnicity, and identity. Identity is a hallmark of many religious groups manifest in
their practices that become a cultural identity of the group. This did not leave out ethnic issues in
the nascent group called Christianity. Early Christianity is construed as a "Jewish ethno-religious
identity into a Christian identity that was unattached to a particular geopolitical and ethno-cultural
identity” (Bennema 2015). This identity was formulated and emerged through conflict with

Although initially dismissed as “a holiday from history” (Will), a “frivolous if not decadent decade” (Rich), and a “time of trivial pursuits” (Halberstam) (cf. Chollet and Goldgeier 2008), the 1990s have increasingly been recognized as a pivotal historical moment. Scholars have underscored its defining impact, with Wegner characterizing the decade as “life between two deaths,” framed by the end of the Cold War and the events of 9/11 (2009).

Deadline for submissions: Friday, March 14, 2025

•  The symposium offers the flexibility of both in-person and virtual participation.
• In our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity, we are pleased to offer free registration for all accepted presenters.
• For any questions or concerns, please contact the symposium organizers at kurulsekreterya@diyanet.gov.tr

 URL: https://etkinlik.diyanet.gov.tr/

Important Dates:

Abstract Submissions Due

March 14, 2025

By 2026, all nine volumes of The Collected Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins will be published, including the much-anticipated final volume in the series, Poetry. The 2026 international Hopkins conference will focus on the new research possibilities and provocations afforded by the texts. Hopkins 2026 will be held in historic Salem, Massachusetts (USA), at Salem State University, and will feature a Hopkins display and reception at the Burns Library, Boston College.
Topics could include:
• How to reassess Hopkins’ texts because of newly available materials.
• Hopkins the collector (of inscapes; of sensations; the writings of others).
• How to rethink Hopkins’s position in the “collectivity” of Victorian writers.

Food fests, feasts, and gatherings address the role of food in events, gatherings, celebrations, and ceremonies. Exploring how people incorporate ideas about food into festival culture, including history, heritage, tradition, creativity, and social and political factors. 

In addition, it examines festivals in which food is not the main focus, yet contributes significantly to the atmosphere, memory, and tradition. It also looks at people's fascination with taste. In addition to examining these notions, we will also examine trends in the consumption and production of food.

Sacred Arts 2025:
Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Artistic Expression and Ritual

University of Oxford (and online)

May 10-11, 2025

Conference webpage: https://labrc.co.uk/sacred-arts-2025/

The Journal of Sanātana Dharma hereby announces the Call for Submissions for its inaugural issue as we look forward to contributions from academicians, traditional scholars, and all kinds of Indic seekers. For further details, check our website: https://josd.info

SAMLA 97 – Knowledge – Atlanta, GA | November 6th - 8th, 2025, https://samla.ballastacademic.com  

This panel intends to examine the works of Muslim American poets, novelists, playwrights, musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists. Papers are invited that explore the diverse compositions of Muslim American identities in cultural texts as they challenge and engage with the canonical codes and sociopolitical norms of national, theoretical, literary, and aesthetic spaces.

The SAMLA conference is taking place in Atlanta, GA on Thursday, November, 6 – Saturday, November, 8, 2025 at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center. The proposed panel dovetails directly with this year’s conference theme “Knowledge.” Even as the past few years have highlighted death and the value of health, there still remains a lack of knowledge and studies concerning the reality of these experiences for some people, especially marginalized groups. This panel is open to all perspectives and seeks to explore death, health, and/or their intersections in the humanities and beyond.

For this guaranteed session of the January 2026 MLA convention, the Transdiscipinary Connections Religion and Literature forum invites proposals that focus on literatures of Palestine and the Palestinian diaspora, especially in their engagements with religion, interfaith encounters, justice, and liberation movements. As members of the MLA debate institutional responses to the Gaza genocide, we seek to amplify scholarship in our transdisciplinary field that bears witness to the struggle for just peace and Palestinian liberation. 

Please submit 250-word proposal and CV by Mary 15, 2025 to Cynthia Wallace, forum chair: cwallace [at] stmcollege.ca.

Call For Papers
Religion & Theatre Focus Group – Emerging Scholars Panel
Association for Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) 2025 Conference
This years conference is virtual
July 28 – Aug. 1, 2025 General Conference
The ATHE Religion and Theatre Focus group invites current graduate students and/or independent scholars who have not presented at a major national conference to submit papers for the 2025 Emerging Scholars Panel.
The 2025 Conference Theme:
The Real
The binary opposition between “real” and “virtual” is ever more outdated and unnecessary. Theatre and performance has always been both real and representation. ATHE 2025: The Real invites us to consider the real effects of a virtual conference.